Windows 10 Confusion

[CrashPad]

I bought a laptop which came with 8.1. Windows 10 was released a few days after so it made sense to update immediatly.

The laptop itself came with windows 8.1 installed on a mechanical HDD. I therefore upgraded it by inserting an m.2 SSD with the aim of eventually installing windows 10 on that.

So..I went through the update proceedure and updated windows 8.1 to windows 10 (this is on the original mechanical HDD). I then took note of the new Windows 10 product code. Once I had done this, I downloaded windows media creator and made a windows 10 boot dvd and installed windows 10 on the M.2 SSD.

This went perfectly......except.....windows refuses to activate with the code!

I contacted microsoft who said, "I will never be able to fresh install windows on to a blank hdd even if it is in the same laptop as it was an oem windows 8.1".

Therefore, I will always have to install 8.1 upgrade, wipe it and only then install windows 10 from new. Is this correct?!?! If so, it seems a bit nuts. Any help would be much appreciated.

 

[Kenmitch]

Does your Windows 10 upgrade show that it's activated?

 

[CrashPad]

Yep, pretty sure it did.

I will check again just to be sure.

As you have guessed I have the upgrade installed on the original HDD. So i can still boot to that if required.

My plan was to wipe it once the fresh Win 10 installed on the SSD and I had confirmed everyhting activated fine....which...did not happen.

 

[corkyg]

What I have done is to clone the drive. Worked perfectly - activation was OK.

 

[Eug]

Hmmm... On my machine I had an OEM Windows 7 on a platter drive that I upgraded to Windows 10. Activation worked fine.

I then swapped in an SSD and did a fresh install of Windows 10 on the SSD. Activated fine too.

Note though, when I did the fresh install, I made sure to enter NO product keys. I always skipped those. When the install was finished, despite the fact I entered no product keys, the install was fully activated.

I didn't clone it because I was having problems with the cloning process.

 

[Kenmitch]

Make sure it's activated before you proceed with the following!

Reboot lappy and disable the HDD in bios, if not possible remove it. You only want Windows to see the m.2 SSD drive during install.

Boot from the media again.

Whenever your prompted to input the code leave it blank and use the skip it option.

Choose custom install, delete the partitions on the m.2 drive just in case, windows will create what it needs in the process of installing.

Remember when prompted for the code leave it blank and use the skip it option.

Once the install is done and you go back online it should activate all by itself without any input from you or codes.

It should work as long as the update was activated.

OH....Welcome to the forum!

 

[CrashPad]

Thanks....

Maybe thats where I went wrong as I did type in the code as part of the install.

As you also point out, as it can "see" the other hdd with another copy of windows 10, this is maybe confusing it somehow....

I'd rather a fresh install than a clone....

 

[Kenmitch]

Thanks....

Maybe thats where I went wrong as I did type in the code as part of the install.

As you also point out, as it can "see" the other hdd with another copy of windows 10, this is maybe confusing it somehow....

I'd rather a fresh install than a clone....

It's always best to install windows with a single SSD or HDD hooked up. Windows is funny during install it can put all your stuff on the SSD and the boot loader, recovery on the HDD or visa versa.

 

[Ketchup]

From what I have read about situations like yours, the code for Windows 10 should be the same as your OEM 8.1 Windows code, which is most likely in the BIOS. So see if the same code is listed on one of your BIOS screens. If it is different, try the BIOS code instead.

And if it needs to be said, the media creation tool is a great thing, but make sure you are selecting the version of Windows that matches your copy of 8.1.

 

[Puffnstuff]

You have to make sure that your 10 upgrade is activated before you attempt a clean install. Once activated you don't need a key and just skip the entry steps and once it reconnects to the net it will activate itself.